James studied medicine at the London Hospital, where he was house-surgeon, and after a short time in practice at Sunderland went out to Genoa, where he spent 19 years as port officer. Keenly interested in Boy Scouts, he became Chief Commissioner of the movement in Italy. When war was declared he volunteered for service in the R.A.M.C., although he had been offered a commission in the Italian Army but preferred to serve under his own flag. James was originally believed to have been killed in action on the 25th or 27th September 1915. Fellow officers reported that it appeared he had been shot dead as he was helping back a wounded officer after “rushing about attending to the wounded under most appalling fire,” and being twice pulled “down under cover against his will.” Because of this his obituary had been published in October 1915. However it was later discovered that James had been taken as a prisoner of war and was lying seriously wounded in the officers’ prison at Mainz. He did not recover from his wounds. He was the only son of the late Rev. William Spensley (minister of the Grange Congregational Church, Sunderland) and Elizabeth Alice, nee Richardson, of Heathfield, Ellenbourgh Park, Weston-super-Mare.